It might be wet, wet, wet but
we still need dowsing rods ...

What a good job we moved the lambs when we did last week. To survivein the field as it is now they would have had to develop fins andwebbed feet. There is only the tiniest area of grass that is not submerged in water.

In a strange twist, I have been looking for dowsing rods for John so that he can locate a source of water underground.

When we were digging out the big pond many years ago, we used dowsing rods tolocate an underground spring that might feed the pond.

An ageing hippy turned up with his pieces of copper wire, marching up and down the field, waiting for them to cross at the strategic point. I must admit I was sceptical.

The dowser/diviner confidently claimed when the rods crossed over aspecific point in the field it would pinpoint an underground spring. Dig down and we would strike water.

We dug and did not, but mysteriously the pond, scraped out by a digger from a muddy and wet part of the field, did fill up, and has never dried up or lost its level. Even in times of severe drought.

But we mocked too soon. The next year a huge sink hole appeared inthe ground just where he said he could sense running water. He was right. We had not dug down far enough.

There must have been running water because some source was filling the pond. We never have foundout from where. It just has.

I started my search for the rods on Ebay, and was amazed at the variety of uses and claims made for them. Scientific studies have concluded that dowsing is no better statistically than chance, but John is a firm believer in the rods’ effectiveness in finding water.

In this particular case he wants a set in order to locate a particular drainage pipe. My researches have seen claims for the rods in establishing for example the feng shui of an area, balancing the energies to assure health and well being. Could this be really useful on a farm to make sure that the cows have a well aligned energy field in the fold yard? I think not. Also it seems, the efficacy of the rods would be assured if we bought a set from water witches who had laid the rods on special Cornish stones. Plus they could be used to discover grave yards. And ghosts. Now where did I bury those phantom sheep?

All this of course seems pretty irrelevant given the drowned state of the field John wants to locate the drain in.

John assures me that the rods react to magnetic fields and I honestly cannot believe that my rational husband believes in all this, but he does.

So now we await for the drying up of the field in question before he can go out with his set of rods and walk over the area where he suspects the drain is located.

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